Rural Vermont’s 26th Annual Meeting – May 4th -Richmond, Vermont

[Carl Russell]

Rural Vermont’s Annual Meeting May 4th in Richmond:
Keynote Address by Bob St. Peter “Local Food, Local Rules”

Rural Vermont supporters from near and far will convene on Wednesday, May 4th from 6:30 – 9 pm at the West Monitor Barn in Richmond for Rural Vermont’s 2011 Annual Meeting. Rural Vermont is thrilled to host this year’s keynote speaker, Bob St. Peter of Sedgwick, Maine and the first town in the US to declare food sovereignty! The event is free for Rural Vermont members and all kids, and $10 for non-members. Rural Vermont’s Annual Meeting is being generously sponsored by Vermont Compost Company, City Market, and Family Cow Farmstand.

Leading up to the keynote address, folks can also expect live music, a finger food potluck, an update on Rural Vermont’s progress and priorities, Board of Directors election, hemp displays and giveaways, and a “Five for Five” raffle – a $5 ticket enters you to win one of five prizes. Winners will be drawn at the meeting and will take home an overnight yurt stay for ten at Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, gardening goods donated by Gardener’s Supply and Vermont Compost Company, a basket of farm-grown and farm-processed foods, a hemp canvas bag donated by Hemp Power Bags and filled with hemp products, and cheesemaking essentials. Tickets will be available at the meeting or in advance by calling Rural Vermont at (802) 223-7222. Winners need not be present to win.

The night will conclude with keynote address “Local Food, Local Rules: Creating Food and Farming Policies that Work for your Community,” by Bob St. Peter. St. Peter comes to Vermont from Sedgwick, Maine, the town that made national headlines recently when they unanimously voted to adopt the Local Food & Community Self-Governance Ordinance. The ordinance protects the rights of consumers and farmers to engage in the direct sale of farm-raised and farm-processed goods without the oversight of state or federal government. To read the full text of the ordinance, visit http://savingseeds.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/localfoodlocalrules-ordinance-template.pdf.

St.Peter is the Executive Director of Food for Maine’s Future and serves on the boards of the National Family Farm Coalition and Family Farm Defenders, and is active with La Via Campesina North America. He sees the recently passed Local Food & Community Self-Governance Ordinance as a model for economic development in rural areas. “It’s tough making a go of it in rural America,” said St.Peter. “Rural working people have always had to do a little of this and a little of that to make ends meet. But up until the last couple generations, we didn’t need a special license or new facility each time we wanted to sell something to our neighbors. Small farmers and producers have been getting squeezed out in the name of food safety, yet it’s the industrial food that is causing food borne illness, not us… And every food dollar that leaves our community is one more dollar we don’t have to pay for our rural schools or to provide decent care for our elders,” adds St.Peter. “We need the money more than corporate agribusiness.”

In St. Peter’s keynote address, he will talk about how and why his town and two others recently passed the Local Food & Community Self-Governance Ordinance exempting direct food sales from state and federal licensing and inspection requirements. He will share the history behind the ordinance and the community-building that has resulted from the effort. Throughout his presentation, St. Peter will address the need for scale-appropriate regulations, the tradition of sharing food in rural communities, and shifting the politics of the local food movement from food security to food sovereignty.

Rural Vermont is a statewide nonprofit group founded by farmers in 1985. For the last 25 years, Rural Vermont has been advancing its mission of economic justice for Vermont farmers through advocacy and education. Rural Vermont is the only organization of its kind in Vermont. For more information, please visit http://www.ruralvermont.org or call (802) 223-7222.

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